Locking holsters it is about preference
We have been selling far more Blackhawk holsters than ever before but several Law Enforcement Agencies that we deal with have bad mouthed them and have told us that they have banned them from training classes. There are flaws in the Blackhawk system and it is true that a dirty locking system will cause the gun to get stuck and it will be difficult to retrieve, but the funny thing about the videos that are floating around YouTube are that if you did the same thing to an M16, the gun would jam up also.
Many of our Special Forces and Law Enforcement still prefer the Safariland holsters although they do seem a little bulkier than other holsters. There really are duty holsters and for the most part Safariland Holsters are best for that job. People that bash locking holsters need to take new students to a range and have them use thumb break holsters and you’ll see in about 5 minutes that Safariland and Blackhawk designs are superior. Not only is it about being able to get your firearm out quickly, it’s also about locking the gun in place so it doesn’t fly out when you have to run or are in an altercation.